Basilisk Games has officially announced development of the third and final game in the Eschalon trilogy, Eschalon: Book III. The upcoming conclusion to the old-school fantasy RPG series is scheduled for release in the summer of 2013. The announcment was accompanied by a website update and new screenshots.

“It feels great to be able to announce that we are developing the final game in the Eschalon trilogy” said Thomas Riegsecker, CEO of Basilisk Games. “Although we've never hidden the fact that we've been working on it for some time, we can finally unveil a bit of the game to our fans who have waited so long to hear more about it. Announcing Book III on the fifth year anniversary of Book I’s release just felt appropriate.”

Eschalon: Book III is being developed for Windows, Macintosh and Linux computers. It features numerous fan requested updates and brings the trilogy to a climactic end. Currently scheduled for a Summer 2013 release, a more specific release date will be announced on the Basilisk Games website early next year. Visit http://basiliskgames.com for more information.

About Eschalon: Book III

Eschalon: Book III is the final game in the award-winning Eschalon RPG series, following Book I's release in 2007 and Book II's release in 2010. The Eschalon RPG series features sprawling, open-ended game worlds and almost unlimited character development options. Book III brings the series to a climatic end as you seek to uncover the mystery of four powerful gemstones and your clouded past. No experience with either of the first two games is needed to enjoy this final chapter in the Eschalon saga. More information on the game can be found online at: http://basiliskgames.com/eschalon_book_iii

About Basilisk Games

Founded in 2005, Basilisk Games is an independent game developer located just outside of Indianapolis, Indiana. The company's mission is to produce compelling old-school computer role-playing games for gamers who still remember what great computer RPGs used to be about: "Single-player. Turn-based. Stat heavy. Story driven." Visit Basilisk Games online at: http://basiliskgames.com

Stoic recently revealed it is accepting beta applications for the upcoming The Banner Saga, a new strategy role playing adventure game about the exploits of a band of vikings. The team also unveiled a new trailer showcasing The Banner Saga: Factions, a free to play multiplayer combat title featuring assets from the RPG.

The Banner Saga is a role-playing game merged with turn-based strategy, wrapped into an adventure mini-series about vikings.

Travel through stunning landscapes straight out of an animated film. Battle painstakingly hand-animated foes in strategic, turn-based combat harkening back to the classic "Tactics" days of gaming. Make decisions with consequences in conversations with people you'll truly care about.

And throughout the whole thing record the history of your people on your banner where it will be remembered, because soon there might not be anything left.

The Banner Saga is a mature game aimed at gamers who appreciate art, story and strategy.

Our first priority has always been to make a role-playing game that feels and looks fresh, and plays like the classic tactical strategy games of our childhood. It's not about defeating the villain and saving the day. It's not about grinding to get past the next fight. The Banner Saga throws you into the end of the world and asks "how do you deal with this"?

DRM-Free, and available on PC and Mac

Not another generic fantasy: Drawing heavily from Norse culture while creating its own identity and mythology, The Banner Saga takes a low-fantasy approach to viking themes. Giants: yes. Horned helmets: no.

Strategic combat: Recruit a large roster of unique characters throughout the story, each with different abilities that interact in combat in a deeply tactical way and personalities of their own. The Banner Saga harkens back to classic turn-based gameplay with a strong emphasis on tactics over brute force and endless grinding.

Travel across gorgeous landscapes: The choices you make as events arise have a huge affect on how the story plays out- who survives, who dies, and what's worth saving. Add people to your caravan as you travel, or lose them when tough decisions arise. You're not just fighting to save nameless strangers, you're fighting for your neighbors, your family and your way of life. We want you to care what happens to them.

An emphasis on story: Your choices in dialogue and throughout the game truly affect the story and the people around you. A mature story for adults means forming relationships and making tough decisions; not sex, violence and swearing.

Play online: Though the single-player campaign is our focus, The Banner Saga provides a deep multiplayer game; build a unique party of characters and battle friends and enemies in multiplayer combat. Upgrade your party over time and devise new strategies.

Risk in gameplay: A lot of modern games play it safe- you know you'll defeat the evil and save the day. In The Banner Saga you can't take anything for granted. We want it to feel like a good tv mini-series; the world doesn't revolve around you, it's about how you deal with change.

In a new blog post InXile Entertainment's Josh Jertberg recently offered new information about the company's upcoming post-apocalyptic Wasteland 2 RPG. In the new post the lead animator discussed the creation of animations for the game, and his experiences using the Unity engine.

One of the struggles as an animator in games is the animation system. A good system can make or break the look of the animations. The animation is broken into so many different pieces that if you don’t have some decent way of controlling that, the entire flow of the animation can feel off. Animation systems have evolved a LOT in the past few years. Wasteland 2 is not a controller driven game and many of these systems are designed for analogue input. I needed a simpler solution and I think I’ve found one.

Browsing the Unity store for animation solutions I found exactly what I needed. I am familiar with the use of an animation tree to drive in game animation states. Sage: Anim Graph Editor is a tool that allows me to intuitively build animation trees that drive the different states of the characters. This is all accomplished without me writing a single line of script. I have no talent for that, but Sage helps me overcome my inability to write script in Unity. I have built up one heck of an animation tree for our rangers so far, and I love the level of control I have over the flow of the animation. The Rangers have a lot of “states” they can be in, so being able to manage and build those states myself is liberating.

To celebrate the November 23 eighth birthday of its popular fantasy MMO, World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment has released a new tribute video as a thank you to those who have played the game over the years, as well as a unique achievement and item for those still playing.

World of Warcraft turns eight on November 23, and we’d like to thank our amazing community for joining us in celebrating eight epic years of adventure. To celebrate, players who log in to World of Warcraft between November 18 and December 1 will receive a unique Feat of Strength achievement and Celebration Package item. Using your item will kick off the celebrations by shooting off fireworks*, applying a (cosmetic only) tabard to your character, and granting an 8% bonus to experience and reputation gains from any enemies defeated while active.

As an added treat, this year we’ve put together a little video to take you through the years from the original release of World of Warcraft to the newly revealed shores of Mists of Pandaria. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey. We know we have.